Objects often have properties associated with them. A property defines an aspect of a state of an object. For instance, a label for a form may be represented as an object, and the label object may have a "Font Name" property that identifies the font of the text contained in the label. A property also has an associated type, such as string or integer. An object typically has system defined properties associated with it. System defined properties are properties whose types are defined by the system. An object may also have application defined properties associated with it. Application defined properties are properties whose types are defined by an application developer. An application developer also defines an object and properties associated with the object.
Current systems enable a user to display and edit system defined properties of an object, such as the "Font Name" property. Some systems offer the per-property browsing method which allows display and editing of system defined properties which appear in a list, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Other systems offer the property sheet page method which allows display and editing of system defined properties which appear on system defined property sheet pages, as illustrated in FIG. 2. System defined property sheet pages are property sheet pages which are defined by the system.
The per-property browsing method displays all system defined properties of one object on a list, typically in alphabetical order. For instance, in FIG. 1, a list of properties for a label object is depicted. One property name "Font Name" is shown along with the current value "Roman." This method enables a user to find a particular property by searching the list for the system defined property. For example, a user would search through the list illustrated in FIG. 1 to find the property name "Font Name."
The property sheet page method groups system defined properties into logical subsets which are displayed on system defined property sheet pages on a per object basis. Each system defined property sheet page may be used to display or edit a portion of the state of an object. For example, in FIG. 2, the "Font" group is illustrated on a system defined property sheet page for a label object, along with the property names "Font Name" and "Font Size." FIG. 2 shows that the current state of the object is a "Roman" font name with size 12 print. Also, the method enables a user to find a particular system defined property by requesting the group that includes the system defined property. For example, the method enables a user to find the property name "Font Name" by requesting the "Font" group.
Additionally, objects generally have system defined properties associated with them. Some objects also have application defined properties associated with them. Some current systems are limited in their capabilities in that they do not provide display and editing of application defined properties, although they provide display and editing of system defined properties.
Some conventional systems lack the ability to provide multiple selection. That is, some conventional systems allow for display and editing of properties of a single object. When several objects have common properties which a user wishes to edit, the user selects each object and edits its property separately. With multiple selection, however, a user may display and edit the common properties of several objects at one time.
Also, conventional systems do not provide the ability to switch between the per-property browsing and property sheet page methods. Some users may prefer one method over the other. Also, sometimes, a user may prefer to use one method and then switch to the other method. Therefore, a user should be able to switch between the per-property browsing and property sheet page methods.